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Belle Isle to remain open during September tech demonstrations

Belle Isle will not close to the public for four days in September after all.

Crain’s reported last week that the state park would be closed to the public so organizers of the Intelligent Transport Systems 21st World Congress could use it for demonstrations of driverless vehicles and high-tech traffic systems.

The event, which occurs in North America every three years, will run concurrently at Cobo Center Sept. 7-11. This is the first time it will take place in Detroit; it is expected to draw as many as 10,000 business executives, legislators and researchers to Detroit. Read more about the Congress here.

This morning, Ed Golder, public information officer for the MichiganDepartment of Natural Resources, which oversees the state park system, said Belle Isle will remain open to the general public during the event. Parts of the island may have to be closed for safety reasons during the event, he said, but he was unsure of the details.

Belle Isle became a state park in February; the DNR is responsible for decisions about closing a state park. But Golder said the Congress was planned long before the DNR had control of Belle Isle. He called the announcement of the park closing, which coincided with the announcement of the World Congress event last week, a miscommunication.

He said once the DNR had a chance to discuss the event with officials at the Michigan Department of Transportation, and after media reports led to public concern about the closing, the decision to keep the park open was made.

“We agreed together that is not what is going to happen,” he said about the original decision to close the park. “Our intent is to keep the island open.